A FORMAT statement in SCRATCHPAD

In [1] Lops i l lustrates the usefulness of hav ing a var ie ty of internal represen ta t ions for Simplification. While this is undoubted ly a good idea no cur ren t a lgebra ic sys tem has been e n d o w e d with such a mul t i tude of in terna l forms. Indeed most cu r ren t symbol ic sys tems ca r ry out all compu ta t i ons in a single internal form, a fo rm which the user has little con t ro l over and which if direct ly expressed in ma themat i ca l f o rm is o f ten inconven ien t fo r user in te rp re ta t ion . A n a l t e rna te a p p r o a c h to mult iple in terna l fo rms is the new F O R M A T s ta t emen t in S C R A T C H P A D by which the user can des igna te f rom a wide range of possible r ep resen ta t ions one which is most appropr i a t e for the cur ren t express ion to be displayed. This s t a t emen t t akes the form: f o r m a t = < c o d e > , w h e r e some present ly a l lowed codes are: